Farmers Movement Archive

West Bengal: Citizenship, agri issues at play as 43 seats go to polls

KOLKATA: The 43 assembly seats in north and south Bengal going to polls during the sixth phase on Thursday offer a mixed bag throwing up similar patterns beyond their geographical locations. For instance, one feels like covering the Bihar elections while talking to voters in Chopra, Islampur, Goalpokhor assembly constituencies of Uttar Dinajpur. A large section of Muslims here speak Urdu that one gets to find deep down south in the jute mills areas of North 24 Parganas spread over Barrackpore, Naihati, Jagatdal, Bhatpara assembly constituencies. But there is a difference also. The above three constituencies plus another two — Chakulia and Karandighi — in Uttar Dinajpur popularly known as the “chicken’s neck” are flanked by Bangladesh on side and Bihar on the other, making the poll issues quite different from Bhatpara, Jagatdal or Naihati. Uttar Dinajpur is also home to a large number of converted Muslims — Nashya Sheikhs who migrated from Rangpur and Rajshahi in erstwhile East Pakistan. They speak in Bengali like the resident Rajbanshi population. The next set in this list of 43 assembly seats is a couple of rural assembly constituencies in Nadia and North 24 Parganas that have at least one thing in common. Chapra and Krishnaganj assembly seats in Nadia and Bangaon Uttar, Bongaon Dakshin, Gaighata, Swarupnagar in North 24 Parganas border Bangladesh. What’s more is this land is known as the Matua belt — the home to Namashudras, the Matuas. Both BJP and Trinamool are playing up sentiments over citizenship, infiltration, to woo voters. The Matuas were with the Left before 2006. They started gravitating towards Trinamool after that and solidly remained with Didi till 2016. The BJP made inroads into this belt during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. PM Modi paid a visit to the seat of Matua religion at Orakandi in Bangladesh to checkmate Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. The third and a crucial set in the mixed bag is a host of rural constituencies where farming is the mainstay. The most prominent among them are five seats in Purba Burdwan — Katwa, Ketugram, Mangalkote, Ausgram and Galsi — part of Bengal’s rice bowl. Add to them the Nadia seats — Tehatta, Kaliganj, Nakashipara and Karimpur, Amdanga and Bagda in North 24 Parganas, Hemtabad and Kaliaganj in Uttar Dinajpur. BJP seniors are desperate to win support from this farming belt so that they can tell the world that farmers are with PM Modi despite the continuing farmer agitation in the Singhu border near Delhi. The sixth phase will cross the half-way mark of the total 294 assembly seats. This phase is packed with big fights between state food minister Jyotipriya Mullick and former BJP state president Rahul Sinha at Habra, state minister Chandrima Bhattacharya and Tanmoy Bhattacharya in Dum Dum Uttar. BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy is in the fray this time from Krishnanagar Uttar. BJP heavyweight Arjun Singh’s son Pawan Singh will be put to test at Bhatpara. Trinamool minister Abdul Karim Chowdhury is contesting from Islampur and former minister and CPI leader Srikumar Mukherjee from Itahar.

The Times of India

2021-04-22

Kolkata